I finally managed to successfully snag some items from an outgoing AAR fellow. Among the haul: 2 lamps, an electric kettle, a bathroom scale, and blankets, and I paid about $90. Not bad. I'm keeping something of a list of items I think I'll need upon arrival, like a blender if I want to keep making shakes for breakfast. I discovered that Amazon Prime in Italy costs only 10 euro a year, probably because a) the country is tiny and b) there's no Amazon Instant attached, which is fine (technically I shouldn't be able to watch Netflix or Amazon from Italy anyway, but I found a IP-switcher for Chrome a while back in order to access BBC's iPlayer, so it shouldn't be an issue).
I've been working through pre-Italy my to-do list: supplemental health care, for example, to cover doctor's visits without having to haggle with Yale back in the US; life insurance policies for both of us (I cost twice what Sean does--thanks, cardiac-arrest-having parents!); finally talking to Phyllis' financial adviser to get an outside perspective on our portfolio. Meanwhile, the online class for Temple is, just like last time, sucking up lots more of my time than I had hoped. There have been so many technological issues, the most major of which was my laptop hitting a death spiral when I tried to update its service pack last week. Sean took it to school as "his" laptop and they quickly pronounced that they needed to scrub and reinstall everything! We brought them our backup drive, so they should be able to give the laptop back with all my files restored. As a bonus, they're updating my poor Windows Vista OS to Windows 7. The nerve-wracking thing was that the software to record/edit the class videos was on that computer, and I wasn't sure if Temple would need to go through the (long) process of buying me another license. Luckily, I was able to download it onto Sean's laptop, and use the same key as the first time.
The long and short of this is that I got virtually nothing research-related accomplished last week...and this week is not looking good either. I have their first "tests" to grade, and two more lectures to record for this week. I'd be doing that right now, but naturally, Sean is trying to scramble together an abstract for a conference in Portugal next year (linguists, always meeting in awesome European places), so I'm on the loaner laptop Yale gave him. Le sigh. One of my students, failing to hand in the quiz on time, told me he was exhausted from having driven home late from a family wedding in Virginia, after springing one of the guests, a relative, from jail. WTF? Who are you people? Go away!
''One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know.''
Monday, July 21, 2014
Thursday, July 10, 2014
Le Sigh
As I mentioned before, I've thus far been somewhat disappointed by what I've found in terms of gyms in Trastevere, both in terms of price and in terms of activities offered. I find myself reflecting on how much I'm going to miss kick after each and every class, even today, when my lower back is killing me after the "swoops" we did yesterday. Kickboxing and yoga are the first group physical activities I've really enjoyed and looked forward to, and it seems I'm going to have to give up both. Although there are plenty of yoga studios in Rome, I'm concerned about how difficult it would be for me to comprehend the instructions while taking positions. My first ever experience of yoga was in Italian, at Middlebury, but least that teacher knew she was speaking to students with varying levels of proficiency. I don't think I'd mistake the nouns for elbow/knee as I did then, and I'm certainly much more flexible (if no less sweaty), but if an Italian started dropping the Hindi names for poses into the mix, I think I'd be totally thrown off. What would utkatasana sound like in an Italian accent? I don't even know.
The other added issue is timing. I've had such a flexible schedule this past couple of years that I could easily go to a kick class at 4:45 on Mondays, or a yoga class at noon on Fridays. Now I have to figure out a schedule that will accommodate library and archive research at various spots around the city with the meals at the Academy, 1pm for lunch and 8pm for dinner. Lunch is a little more negotiable (I'm sure there will be plenty of times when I'm all the way on the other side of Rome at the Hertziana or somewhere else where getting back to the Academy won't be practicable) but sharing dinner is an important component of the Academy experience, and not something to be lightly missed. (Plus, someone is offering to cook me delicious, healthy meals for FREE twice a day? Hell yeah!) Of course, when do evening yoga and meditation classes tend to be offered? 8pm. And don't even mention early morning classes--Italians scoff at the American notion of hitting the gym, or anything else, at 6am.
Yoga is something I can do on my own, of course (and I've already found a number of websites with free class videos), but I'm much more motivated in a group setting, not least when I need to peek under my arm at the woman next to me to understand what bodily contortion I'm supposed to be assuming now. I know yoga must be popular among Academy fellows, because I've gotten a dozen emails from those departing offering goods for sale, mostly space heaters and yoga mats. (Try as I might, I haven't yet managed to email quickly enough to score anything--and I was particularly disappointed to miss out on an air mattress for $40. I just can't compete with people getting emails on their phone, I suppose). It gives me a little encouragement that maybe there will be an informal yoga practice among the group, or something.
Speaking of, an email just came in offering a brand-new iMac for $1000. He's apparently an artist who works primarily in film. Artists, architects, etc must have to invest in a lot of expensive equipment, it seems, if they can't bring it with them; I've seen several projector systems and even a soldering station offered up! Go humanities--all I need is my computer and my camera. I'm bringing my poor aged laptop with me. I had considered buying a new one in advance, but since I replaced the power cord and battery, there's nothing terribly wrong with this one, and I do love that it's 17" across. It's just old, and the programs are old; I'm still running like Word 2003 on this baby! My plan is to purchase a new laptop when I come home for Christmas, to take advantage of sales. The rewards cash building up on our cards will be put to this purpose. Right now it's at about $200 between the BoA and Chase cards, and the BoA has the benefit of an added 10% if you cash it out to a BoA account. I've only cashed it once so far, when the $400 balance netted me an extra $40, which purchased Sean his lovely piano keyboard. If it gets to $400 by Christmas, that would help me buy a more expensive laptop than a super-cheap version. How I wish I could just use a Chromebook...but I do need programs. Alas.
The other added issue is timing. I've had such a flexible schedule this past couple of years that I could easily go to a kick class at 4:45 on Mondays, or a yoga class at noon on Fridays. Now I have to figure out a schedule that will accommodate library and archive research at various spots around the city with the meals at the Academy, 1pm for lunch and 8pm for dinner. Lunch is a little more negotiable (I'm sure there will be plenty of times when I'm all the way on the other side of Rome at the Hertziana or somewhere else where getting back to the Academy won't be practicable) but sharing dinner is an important component of the Academy experience, and not something to be lightly missed. (Plus, someone is offering to cook me delicious, healthy meals for FREE twice a day? Hell yeah!) Of course, when do evening yoga and meditation classes tend to be offered? 8pm. And don't even mention early morning classes--Italians scoff at the American notion of hitting the gym, or anything else, at 6am.
Yoga is something I can do on my own, of course (and I've already found a number of websites with free class videos), but I'm much more motivated in a group setting, not least when I need to peek under my arm at the woman next to me to understand what bodily contortion I'm supposed to be assuming now. I know yoga must be popular among Academy fellows, because I've gotten a dozen emails from those departing offering goods for sale, mostly space heaters and yoga mats. (Try as I might, I haven't yet managed to email quickly enough to score anything--and I was particularly disappointed to miss out on an air mattress for $40. I just can't compete with people getting emails on their phone, I suppose). It gives me a little encouragement that maybe there will be an informal yoga practice among the group, or something.
Speaking of, an email just came in offering a brand-new iMac for $1000. He's apparently an artist who works primarily in film. Artists, architects, etc must have to invest in a lot of expensive equipment, it seems, if they can't bring it with them; I've seen several projector systems and even a soldering station offered up! Go humanities--all I need is my computer and my camera. I'm bringing my poor aged laptop with me. I had considered buying a new one in advance, but since I replaced the power cord and battery, there's nothing terribly wrong with this one, and I do love that it's 17" across. It's just old, and the programs are old; I'm still running like Word 2003 on this baby! My plan is to purchase a new laptop when I come home for Christmas, to take advantage of sales. The rewards cash building up on our cards will be put to this purpose. Right now it's at about $200 between the BoA and Chase cards, and the BoA has the benefit of an added 10% if you cash it out to a BoA account. I've only cashed it once so far, when the $400 balance netted me an extra $40, which purchased Sean his lovely piano keyboard. If it gets to $400 by Christmas, that would help me buy a more expensive laptop than a super-cheap version. How I wish I could just use a Chromebook...but I do need programs. Alas.
Saturday, July 05, 2014
A Busy Week
My sister's wedding turned out to be a lot of fun! There was stress on the day of, of course; Jen discovered she'd left the foundation garment for her dress at the bridal salon in Chicopee, which wasn't answering its phone. Without it she couldn't actually wear the dress! In the end, we bought her a new one at a nearby bridal shop, which happened to be the one where our mom bought her wedding dress, a neat full circle. The wedding went off without a hitch, and the reception was truly a blast. It was wonderful to spend time with my aunts and my cousins (at a non-death occasion). Our family table was packed with thirteen guests, including Sean's mom and my great-aunt Louise, my grandmother's baby sister (now 82). Once the dancing started, my aunts both kicked off their shoes and went at it with gusto--when you add in me, Jen, and my cousin Sara, the DiMarzos were, surprisingly enough, the ones holding down the dance floor all night! Donna, wearing a hat after losing her hair to the chemo, danced more than anyone else. It was awesome. Then we all went back to the hotel and tucked into the subs and fried chicken that my aunts had bought in advance (they are geniuses) and washed it all down with prosecco. (We DiMarzos love our prosecco; I think among all of us we contributed at least 5 bottles at the hotel over the course of two nights).
That was Friday night. After recuperating on Saturday, we spent Sunday morning kayaking with Jon and Kathy Ward, which was a lot of fun. I've never been in a kayak before, and was fully expecting a) to fall in the water and b) to ache the next day, neither of which happened, despite a good few hours on the water. That afternoon we went to Sean's dad's for a Jack-and-Jill shower for Sean's stepsister Morgan and her fiancee Paul. Once night fell and most of the guests had left, it was finally cool enough to light the fire pit. By this time Sean was already feeling weird pains in his stomach, which he attributed to all the bad food over the weekend, but when he still felt unpleasant on Monday night, Linda suggested appendicitis. Ruh-roh. On Tuesday he felt almost fine, but went to get checked anyway, and though he had no other symptoms, as a precaution they sent him for a CAT scan at the hospital. Surprise, surprise: appendicitis! One laparoscopic procedure later, he was sans appendix, which thankfully hadn't ruptured but was still pressing on his intestines and causing the discomfort.
Most of this week has been Sean recuperating from the procedure, which did have a more significant amount of pain after the fact than he was expecting. He can't drive for a little while, or jog, or lift anything heavy, so I was really proud of myself for being able to haul the big upright air conditioner up the steps from the basement. I wouldn't have been able to do that this time last year--thank you kickboxing and yoga! (I've begun to realize how much I'm going to miss kickboxing once I move; I've looked into gyms in Trastevere, but not only are they expensive--to the tune of 80 euro a month--kickboxing doesn't appear to be "a thing" in Italy, blerg) Today he felt a lot better, so we spent the afternoon at his aunt Kathy's house, the annual 4th of July party having been transformed into a graduation party for his cousin Maxine, who just completed nursing school with her RN. A lucky shift, too, since today was so beautiful after yesterday's gross weather! Finall, we capped off the evening by walking to the sea wall to watch the fireworks across the harbor in West Haven.
Monday marks the start of my online class, my last bit of teaching for two years. It also marks exactly two months to the day until I fly to Rome...eep.
That was Friday night. After recuperating on Saturday, we spent Sunday morning kayaking with Jon and Kathy Ward, which was a lot of fun. I've never been in a kayak before, and was fully expecting a) to fall in the water and b) to ache the next day, neither of which happened, despite a good few hours on the water. That afternoon we went to Sean's dad's for a Jack-and-Jill shower for Sean's stepsister Morgan and her fiancee Paul. Once night fell and most of the guests had left, it was finally cool enough to light the fire pit. By this time Sean was already feeling weird pains in his stomach, which he attributed to all the bad food over the weekend, but when he still felt unpleasant on Monday night, Linda suggested appendicitis. Ruh-roh. On Tuesday he felt almost fine, but went to get checked anyway, and though he had no other symptoms, as a precaution they sent him for a CAT scan at the hospital. Surprise, surprise: appendicitis! One laparoscopic procedure later, he was sans appendix, which thankfully hadn't ruptured but was still pressing on his intestines and causing the discomfort.
Most of this week has been Sean recuperating from the procedure, which did have a more significant amount of pain after the fact than he was expecting. He can't drive for a little while, or jog, or lift anything heavy, so I was really proud of myself for being able to haul the big upright air conditioner up the steps from the basement. I wouldn't have been able to do that this time last year--thank you kickboxing and yoga! (I've begun to realize how much I'm going to miss kickboxing once I move; I've looked into gyms in Trastevere, but not only are they expensive--to the tune of 80 euro a month--kickboxing doesn't appear to be "a thing" in Italy, blerg) Today he felt a lot better, so we spent the afternoon at his aunt Kathy's house, the annual 4th of July party having been transformed into a graduation party for his cousin Maxine, who just completed nursing school with her RN. A lucky shift, too, since today was so beautiful after yesterday's gross weather! Finall, we capped off the evening by walking to the sea wall to watch the fireworks across the harbor in West Haven.
Monday marks the start of my online class, my last bit of teaching for two years. It also marks exactly two months to the day until I fly to Rome...eep.